Grumble, Grumble, Defense Let’s Rumble (LAK vs WPG 10/4/2013)

Favorite quote of the night from Jim Fox: “You would think we are in San Jose. Every time someone goes down the fans are yelling.”

Herald’s Take

It’s no secret we started the game a bit soft. The boys were tired and didn’t play the cleanest of games the previous night. I’m still going to call this night a win. Call me crazy, but our boys have gotten so used to winning that they need a bit of a reminder of what it takes to win. Tonight, they got that reminder.

Winnipeg had a record of 24-21-3 last year. Not the most impressive. They made a few good changes in the offseason AND it was their season opener AND we are on their home ice AND they play a different game than we do.

Penalties at horrible times buried us tonight. Greene scored our first goal but he erased that effort with a bad penalty early in the third period. The second most heart breaking goal had to be Regehr’s tripping penalty that stopped our comeback scoring streak. We scored 2 goals in 5 minutes and looked sharp enough to score a 3rd but Regehr’s penalty put an end to that.
In the third period, we scored twice in five minutes. The boys were playing like we know they can and were applying intensity, energy and pressure. It’s unfortunate that momentum was put to a halt or we may have had a different outcome.

“I didn’t want to trip him. I just wanted to remove the Tic Tac from my nose.”

At the end of the day (Cap’n Brown, anyone?) it came down to this. Our boys were tired. Winnipeg was raring to go and they play a speedy game.

Fun Facts

-Statistically speaking, Jake Muzzin had the worst performance of the evening. He wound up with a -3 on the night with 8 minutes less than Doughty, 20 seconds less than Voynov, 20 seconds less than Mitchell. On the flip side of that, Greene finished the evening with a 0 +/- score since he was ALWAYS IN THE BOX.

-Winnipeg is in Manitoba. Manitoba sucks. So, we all still win.

-The last time Pavelec faced the LA Kings was in 2010 and he stopped 38 shots to earn a shutout in the 7-0 blowout for the Atlanta Thrashers.

-Jokinen is still alive. He scored his 300th NHL goal tonight.

-Carter is now on track to have an 82 goal season.

-Fraser is now on track to fight 82 times this season.

Scoring Summary

1-0 LAK, Greene, unassisted
Winnipeg attempted to clear the puck. Greene picked it up at the blue line and fired it off. Richards had Pavalec screened, twine wiggled.

1-1 WPG, Kane with assists by Seoguchi and Scheifele
Kane fires one shot and Greene blocks it. It goes right back to Kane’s stick and he fires off a wrist shot fairly close to the blue line. Quick either isn’t ready or misjudges the angle and it sneaks past him.

1-2 WPG, Jokinen with assists by Frolik and Enstrom
After a rebound shot, Jokinen scoops up the puck by the right circle. Quick is already sprawled out from stopping the original shot and he roofs the puck. A failed clear on the defense’s part, but the breakdowns haven’t really started yet.

1-3 WPG, Setoguchi with assists by Kane and Byfuglien
Kane fires a shot. The puck bounces off both Setoguchi’s stick and the inside of Regehr’s knee. Quick can see the shot and is in good position for it but the double ricochet flops the puck up and over his glove. Powerplay goal on Greene’s penalty.

1-4 WPG, Setoguchi with assists by Kane and Jokinen
Kane attempts a great move and Quick manages to stop the shot. Setoguchi snatches it up as Muzzin stands there watching it happen. Carter skates across the crease and attempts to block the wrap around with his knees but doesn’t quite fill enough of the crease.

At this point in the game, Quick was pulled and Scrivens hopped out onto the ice.

“I’m sorry buddy. You’ll get that save percentage up.”

2-4 LAK, Carter with assists by Muzzin and Kopitar
Due to failing the faceoff policies, the Jets had to put a non center in to take the draw. Kopitar wins it cleanly and slowly slides it behind him. Muzzin nurses it, passes it to Carter and he snipes it past Pavelec. He makes it look smooth and easy. Richards was screening Pavelec. Powerplay goal.

3-4 LAK, Williams with an assist by Frattin and Mitchell
Brown is doing a great job screening Pavelec. He made his body as big as possible in order to block his vision. Mitchell drops the puck to Frattin who fires off a shot. It deflects off the goal post and Williams slides it past Pavelec.

3-5 WPG, Little with an assist by Ladd
Empty net goal. Kopitar won the draw cleanly and quickly on his second swipe and it appeared Carter wasn’t ready for it. It slides behind him and the Jets hop on it to fire off an empty net goal and seal the boys’ fate.

Netminder Breakdown

Jonathan Quick stopped 23 of 27 shots for a save percentage of .852. Scrivens stopped the 5 shots that he faced. While Quick did allow 4 goals, he made quite a few huge saves and the defense failed to clear and the boys were constantly on the penalty kill.

Pavelec played a solid game as he ended the game stopping 33 of 36 shots. He made several key saves during high pressure situations and definitely deserved the first star he received tonight.

Box Score, Stats for the Game

Shots: LAK 36, WPG 33

CATEGORY

LAK

WPG

Power Plays

2/5

1/6

Hits

18

31

Faceoff Wins

40

23

Givaways

8

12

Takeaways

2

4

Blocked Shots

14

15

Penalty Minutes

17

15

Roster Breakdown

Scratches: Carcillo, Ellerby, Martinez. The #FreeAlecMartinez campaign rages on as we see several of our D men failing and tired tonight.